Another Case of a Missing Plane in what is known as the Bermuda Triang
by susan cousineau
Summary: Steve Crane finds himself lost in the Bermuda Triangle and Scully and Mulder are called to find the missing plane.
1. Chapter 1

The airplane that took off from the Miami airport that morning was an ordinary commuting jet that was known to make many flights each and every week. The Captain of the ship owned it and was proud of his work and his unblemished record.

Steve Crane was a forty-one year old man who had been flying since he was nineteen. He had built up his business from the ground up and had never had any near crashes or disasters in the past twenty-two years. His plane was a brand new Cessna. it was the top of the line aircraft and the weather had been clear at the time of takeoff.

On board the air ship were four passengers, all well known businessmen. They were on their way to Orlando for a meeting at one of the large resorts when the plane had lost communication. The pilot Steve Crane had reported that he was having instrument problems and within moments had disappeared off of radar.

Immediately the Coast Guard was sent out to do a complete search and rescue. They scoured for seven days any space within two hundred miles of their last known location. As the search got broader and broader it became apparent that this airship nicknamed the Ernestine after Steve Crane's beloved daughter who had died of cancer a year ago was going to go down in history as another missing air ship from the Bermuda Triangle.

Eight days later, though, things changed. There was a young man who was a radio enthusiast. He had been on the radio the day before the Ernestine had disappeared and had heard a strange call. The call had been so strange that he had hit record. There was a man on the radio who identified himself as Pilot Steven Crane and that he was on flight 1511 from Miami to Orlando. He reported that his instruments were not functioning right and that he was lost and low on fuel.

Marcus Jones was a member of a dying breed. In fact, ham radio was a thing of the past, but he had kept his going long after most people had given up and moved to the more modern version. That was the reason that he was so surprised that he had received such a message. He immediately called over to the Orlando airport and was rudely told that there was no such flight on the schedule for that day. The only flight that was on the schedule was a flight for the next day. The agent had then rudely hung up on him.

Now, Marcus was not known for keeping a very keen eye on the television or the newspaper and had not heard of the plane that was missing. He was at the local convenience store when he overheard two men talking about the lost aircraft. You could have pushed him over with a feather when he heard the name of the ship and pilot.

Mary Chabot had been very busy that day and had not paid much attention to the nut that had called to report a plane being in trouble, until the missing aircraft the Ernestine. She remembered the man on the phone saying that the man had identified himself as Steve Crane. She immediately had gone to her supervisor with the information but was laughed at.

"Are you trying to tell me young lady that a man and his ship that was going to be lost the next day was calling for assistance the day before? You had better stop touching that cooking sherry." and with that he had laughed.

But Mary wasn't so sure that the call should be ignored. She had been working at the airport for the past seven years and had received many a strange call. Some of the strange calls had turned out to be true. But she took her seat and said nothing. She didn't know who the man was or where he was located because she had not been interested in a madman's antics at the time.

But Marcus had other things on his mind. He was sure that someone out there in the government investigating the crash would be interested in the tape he had. So, after a week of doing nothing, he picked up the phone and placed a call to the FBI.

Mulder and Scully were two of the best agents at the FBI and they specialized in strange happenings. Because of what had been told to the agent it was decided that they would be the best qualified team to investigate what had happened to the plane.

As the two agents were briefed on what had happened they took notes and headed out to the base in Orlando Florida to begin an investigation. Marcus Jones lived just twenty miles outside of Orlando and they needed to talk to him.

Steve Crane had been in his seat checking each and every instrument when his passengers had arrived. The first man was a businessman who was very educated in the financial world. He was a very wealthy self made man but well respected. The second man to arrive was Larry Jackman. Larry specialty was electronics and had made a fortune in what was known as the gaming world. The third man to enter was a short stocky man with the kind of face that never saw a smile. He was quick witted though and had made his fortune designing different amusement rides. The fourth man that came in was named Sean O'Leary. He was a wealthy man who had made most of his money in oil. He had plans to expand his investments and was eager to go to the meeting in Orlando.

All four men had taken their seats without problems and as the ship had been given the go ahead, they had been airborne. Everything had gone well, until about twenty minutes into the flight, the clock on the ship started going backwards. It went fast, and there was no explanation for it. It was then that the instruments did not show that he was where he should be at the moment. As a matter of fact, according to the instruments he was some one hundred miles off course. This was a relatively short flight and this much distance would have been impossible for the tiny aircraft to have gone that far without him noticing it. He had been midway through his conversation with the airport when he had lost communication.

What he had heard next surprised him. He heard a man that identified himself as K103 on the other end . He was an amateur radio operator, and he said he acknowledged Steve's distress call and would report it immediately to the authorities. But, when the man had given the day and time he had repeated it as though it had been yesterday.

As Steve knew that he was getting ready to lose all power because he had very little fuel left he warned the passengers to break for the impact of the water. The ship was a strong ship and was designed to stay afloat for hours in the water. This was a calm day and he had been able to reach someone on land who would send help out.

But as the plane went to lose all power a giant spout of water appeared below them and took hold of the ship. With all the power of the jet engines, Steve could not break loose. The ship was going down into that hole and he could not stop it.


	2. Chapter 2

By this time the passengers on board the aircraft knew that they were in trouble. They had now assumed the crash position and were ready to disembark out onto the ocean when they had seen this giant water spout. As the men looked out the window of the small aircraft, they saw that the water spout was now enveloping around the craft. They were in the air being held up by the sprout.

Steve Crane had never encountered any type of sprout like this. It was as though it was being controlled by something. It seemed to be holding the ship in the air. He could not move the aircraft, the sprout had total control of it. As Steve looked over his instruments, he saw that he had lost all of his fuel now.

The instruments on the airplane were still working and he kept on the radio attempting to reach someone who might hear his pleas. He had reached that one man, and he had promised that he was going to contact the authorities. For whatever good it was the sprout was keeping him and the people on the ship safe for the moment.

But the men were very worried and they were now knocking on his cabin door. As Steve opened the door he smiled at the men. "Gentlemen I am at a loss for words as to what has happened myself. This water sprout seems to have a mind of its own and is holding us in the air steadily. I can tell you that I have been able to reach a radio operator on shore and he is talking to the authorities with the information that I gave him. I gave him our coordinates and I expect help to come soon."

The first of the passengers to speak up was Larry Jackman. "I am an electronics specialist and have studied the effects of what people call the Bermuda Triangle. There are several things in this world that we don't understand and to disregard anything like the Bermuda Triangle myth is something that closed mind would do. Now I have watched the water sprout. In all my years I have never seen a water sprout act in this way. The sprout came out and surrounded us. It was as though someone had intentionally sent it up to protect us." he told the small group.

As a pilot with many years experience, Steve Crane had heard lots of stories of strange things occurring when people encountered the area called the Bermuda Triangle. Some of the stories that he had heard were totally out of this world. But, every story that he had heard always mentioned the fact that the instruments on the plane had not been working properly.

"Well, for right now I have turned on the emergency signal. This will be picked up by any rescue team that comes within one hundred miles of this plane. As long as the sprout keeps us in the air, we will be all right. There is plenty of food and water onboard and we are low enough that we don't need oxygen to breathe. I am going to continue monitoring the radio. Everyone take a seat and try to say calm. We will be rescued I am sure of that." Steve told the men.

There was some grumbling but the men went back to their seats and began working on their projects. It was Larry's hopes anyways that they would soon be on their way once again and so he settled down to work on his laptop.

Dana and Scully had called Marcus Jones and made an appointment to speak to him. The house was just under two hours away and so they headed right out. As they approached the house, they found it to be in an older part of town, but the houses were well kept and they found Marcus Jones sitting on the front porch smoking a pipe and waiting for them to arrive.

Dana and Mulder were taken into a large living room, where to the back was a small room. In the small room was an old radio. Marcus had a lot of equipment set up and they could see that he had some of the best equipment that money could offer. Marcus handed the two agents the tape that he had made of the conversation he had with the pilot of the missing plane.

As they sat there they were indeed listening to the voice of Steve Crane He identified his plane the flight and his location. The FBI had sent out search planes that were now covering an area over three hundred miles wide and had found nothing so far. Dana could not help but wonder if the plane was lost in time, not in space. The pilot should not have been on the air at the time that he was. Because at the time of the distress call he should not have been on the flight. Technically the plane had not taken off yet.

But, she smiled at Marcus and said "Do you mind if we take this to our lab and see if we can hear something different on the recording? We have the best sound equipment that is available and perhaps we will be able to hear something that will give us a clue as to where the airplane is and where it has gone down."

Marcus was more than happy to give the two gents the tape. He had made it just for that purpose. He wanted them to find the plane before the people onboard died or something. He smiled as the two agents left his house and went back to his radio room.

As Scully went to work on breaking down the tape, Mulder went to work looking into the possibility that something had happened at or near the coordinates that the pilot had given them. But he was going to have to check the information available on the day before the plane took off.

Scully and Mulder worked throughout the afternoon looking for and listening for anything that might give them a clue as to what had happened on that fateful day. Dana had been working on the sounds when she finally heard something. It was very faint, but she was sure that the sound that she was hearing was not a natural sound. As she cropped the sound and enhanced it, the sound became clearer and clearer. After finally getting the noise to be as clear as she could get it she listened very carefully. On the recorder she distinctly heard a woman's voice. Since there were no women onboard the flight, she listened again. "We will return this ship in thirty days."

Mulder put the headset on and took a listen. Indeed he heard a woman saying that in the background. This was a very puzzling situation.


End file.
